Easy DIY Wooden Cube Coat Rack for Just $10

Hello Remodelaholic readers! Colleen here again from Lemon Thistle. Today I’m excited to share this simple build with you- a DIY Cube style wooden coat rack! It really is such a simple build and the supplies (assuming you have tools and paint hanging around) ring in around $10 total- which is my kind of DIY. I feel like coat racks have kind of passed their point of popularity. I don’t see too many of them around any more but found myself wanting one- so I decided a build was in order.

See- we have a 1965 split level entry home that has NO mudroom and NO coat closet. Yep- no coat closet. We are working on a rad DIY to add shoe storage to the entry BUT coats are another issue. We often have large groups of people over and coats end up stacked on our bed, draped over our couch, on every chair and baby gate. It’s kind of a pain and I always feel bad for guests when my kids pull their coats onto the floor and step all over them (it happens every. darn. time.). We decided to turn the bottom of the split level stairs into a mini mudroom and painted this bright ‘wallpaper’, added some cool hooks and a chair for tying up boots. But I didn’t want 1000 holes for hooks, especially since we wouldn’t use ALL of them every day- just when people are over. A coat rack was the perfect solution- it looks cool when we’re not using it, tucks in the corner nicely, and thanks to 14 hooks… it packs a punch for coat storage.

We added hooks on this guy not just at our level, but down low so our kids can use it too. They love to have their own hooks and it saves me having to pick their jackets up from the floor because they can’t reach. We did the same thing with hooks on the wall. Ready for the DIY?

$10 Easy DIY Wooden Cube Coat Rack

Materials

2×2 Wood (your height x 4 plus 9″x12)

2″ Screws, Drill

Nail Gun

Sander & Sandpaper (I used an orbital and 12o grit)

Wood Glue or construction adhesive

Dowel

Miter Saw

Paint or stain and wood fill *see notes on finishing below

Step by Step Tutorial

*Before I get to the instructions, there’s a couple things to consider. The first is that the type of wood you use will affect the finished piece. We used the cheapest 2×2 available. Do you see the joints in the pieces? In the finished piece, you can see little lines where the joints are. This coat rack was built for the darkest little corner at the bottom of our stairs. No one is getting too close to it except to hang jackets and we didn’t want to spend much money to build it. If you were going to build it to have in a main space in your home- I’d recommend getting higher quality wood (without the joints). In addition- we skipped filling screw holes. Again- if you were making this for a trafficked part of your home, I would fill those by either countersinking the screws and using wood plugs OR by just using wood fill. Make these decisions before you buy your wood! The last thing to think about is that if yours is going to be up against a wall (like ours) and all the coats hung off one or two sides, you may want to anchor it to the wall to keep it from tipping over when it fills up with 14 heavy winter jackets.

Step 1: Cut

Alright, the first step is to cut the wood to size. Decide how tall you’d like it and cut four pieces of 2×2 that tall. Then, cut 12 pieces of 2×2 for sides of the cube (we did ours 9″). Cut your dowel while you have the saw out- we cut ours a little longer than needed so they could hold more. Cut a piece of dowel double the length of one hook, then cut it in half with a 45 degree angle- this will make two hooks.

Step 2: Sand

Now sand these babies! This took a while. I sanded all four sides of all the 2x2s with my circular sander. Since the wood isn’t high quality there were lots of imperfections- I just aimed to get rid of any splinters or rough patches. I sanded the dowels by hand. This went quickest using a foam sanding block wrapped in my paper. The foam allowed me to get more than one small side of the dowel at once.

Step 3: Assemble

When everything is sanded, wipe clean before assembling. Assemble two sides of the cube then attach them- this will save you trying to prop things up. We assembled with screws and wood glue. Make sure to drill a pilot hole first to minimize risk of the wood splitting. If you are going to add wood plugs, remember to countersink!

Dowels are attached with wood glue and brad nails. This was impossible for me to get a picture of (you’ll need a set of hands to hold the coatrack steady and one set to nail. We did three nails per hook.

Step 4: Finishing

Now you’re ready for finishing! Add fill if you’d like it all fancy and smooth then slap on some paint! I used the same paint I’d had from my hand painted wallpaper, it’s called ‘Place your bets’ by Para Paints (Canadian Company).

I am really pleased with how this turned out for a quick (and affordable!) project. It really maximizes our space and it’s fun to boot. This little corner is honestly good for NOTHING else, so to have a coat rack here that has so many hooks is amazing. Now I just need to sort through all the boxes I’d stashed in this dark little corner 😉

Do you have any coat racks in your home? Do people even buy them anymore? I honestly never thought I’d own one, yet here we are!

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About Colleen

I'm the DIY and lifestyle blogger behind Lemon Thistle: home to DIY, hand lettering, home décor and design. I’m a mom to three kids under three, I love to entertain, and my awesome hubby and I are working our way through major renovations on our new home. I believe you can have a beautiful life, home, and party without spending a lot.

Comments

Very nice tutorial, thanks for sharing! I love repurposing old things and creating useful household items with my own hands, it’s very rewarding. Your coat rack seems simple to make, but it’s also pretty functional, which makes it great. The hooks for the coats are situated in various heights, which is great for families with small children.

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